Rock Valley College lowers tax levy for 4th year in row

Tuesday

Dec 17, 2013 at 9:45 PMDec 17, 2013 at 9:45 PM

By Isaac GuerreroRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - Rock Valley College will lower its property tax levy for the fourth consecutive year in 2014.

Trustees approved a $25.4 million levy Tuesday - about $1.1 million less than the college's 2012 property tax request. The levy is the total amount of property taxes the community college expects to collect from Winnebago and Boone counties and parts of Stephenson, Ogle and DeKalb counties.

"Every year, we make sure that as bonds retire we're using that money to pay down other bonds so we never have debt out there longer than we should," Trustee Kathy Kelley said. "We're trying to be conscientious of the taxpayers."

The college's 44-cent property tax rate has remained stable for the last decade. Next year, the rate will increase a bit more than a penny to 46 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Even with a slightly higher tax rate, the owner of a home valued at $100,000 may pay a smaller tax bill to the college next year, simply due to the overall decline in property values, said Sam Overton, RVC's vice president of finance and administration. The actual tax rate won't be calculated until spring when all assessment challenges have been heard.

College administrators estimate that property values have fallen between 3 percent and 6 percent across the district. The owner of a $100,000 home in the district would pay between $4.60 and $9.33 less to the college if the value of their home fell by the same amount. The owner of a $100,000 home that maintained its value year-to-year would pay $153.47 to the college next year versus $149.23 this year.

Local taxing bodies have until Dec. 31 to report their 2013 tax levies to the county clerk. Last year, Rock Valley was among 33 of 137 local governments in Boone and Winnebago counties that decreased its tax levy.